Episode Transcript
Speaker 1 00:00:05 Welcome to the Clear Impact Podcast, brought to you by P G T I University. Thanks for joining us today. My name is Sherry Connor and I am your host.
Speaker 2 00:00:17 But again, she will tell you we're her people, we're her family. I'm the one who calls when she gets scared at night sometimes <laugh>.
Speaker 1 00:00:24 Aww.
Speaker 2 00:00:25 So it's getting to have the relationships with those girls. There's so many stories and there are a lot of sad stories too, but I really like to tell the ones that are more inspirational about the girls who have made it through and can tell you themselves about what an impact Girls Inc. Made. Right.
Speaker 1 00:00:42 Girls Inc is a national organization that serves girls nationwide and their branch in Sarasota County is impressive. Angie Stringer, their president and ceo, came in to share about the work they do in helping girls, teens, and now young adults become strong, smart, and bold. Partnering with PGT Innovations allows them to offset the cost of their programs as many of their girls face socioeconomic challenges. This nonprofit lines up beautifully with our Leading Ladies program, encouraging women to rise to their fullest potential. Good afternoon. We are here on the Clear Impact Podcast and we are in a series called Community Manners and we're talking with some of the nonprofits in the area that we support in hopes that you'll be inspired to support your local nonprofits. And today in Studio from Girls Inc. We have Angie Stringer and Julie Anderson. Welcome. Thank
Speaker 2 00:01:37 You. We're glad to be here.
Speaker 1 00:01:39 Glad to have you. So I'll let you ladies introduce yourselves and then we'll find out more about Girls Inc.
Speaker 2 00:01:45 Okay. I am Angie Stringer, the president and CEO of Girls Inc. Of Sarasota County. Welcome.
Speaker 3 00:01:51 And I am Julie Anderson. I am the VP of Advancement for Girls Inc. Of Sarasota County. Awesome.
Speaker 1 00:01:57 And so how long have y'all been there?
Speaker 2 00:02:00 I have been there for seven years in this position. Okay. I was there a little while for about three years and left to work at another nonprofit, but I've been back for seven.
Speaker 1 00:02:09 Nice. And how about you Julie?
Speaker 3 00:02:11 So this also is my second time at Girls Inc. So I have been with Girls Inc now for eight months and before that I worked there in 2015 and I moved away for a while and came back and was very excited to rejoin with Angie.
Speaker 1 00:02:25 Awesome. Well it's great to have you both in studio today. And as I mentioned, we just wanna learn a little bit more about Girls Inc. And what you do and who you serve.
Speaker 2 00:02:35 Well, our mission is to inspire girls to be strong, smart, and bold. And we do that through what we call the Girls Inc. Experience, which includes three components, a girls only environment, mentoring and our Girls Inc. National curriculum. So we provide all of that at our center on Tu Avenue and then also in 15 schools in the county.
Speaker 1 00:03:01 Okay. I didn't realize that y'all were in schools too. That's awesome.
Speaker 2 00:03:04 Yes. So we have been in schools, we added our school program in 2017 and it's been great. We have had developed great relationships with the schools and we do our, as I mentioned, our Girls Inc. National curriculum generally. But during Covid to accommodate what the kids needed and what the new rules were in the schools, we began doing just case management. So one on one meetings with the girls. So now we're doing a combination of that.
Speaker 1 00:03:31 Wonderful. So what is the age group of okay. Students that you serve?
Speaker 2 00:03:35 We start serving girls in kindergarten at our center. We're kindergarten through eighth grade, primarily in the schools. We're kindergarten through 12th grade, but we just added and we're really excited about this, a new program called Project Accelerate that is through National Girls Inc. It was funding through National Girls Inc. And it's going to provide services for our girls after they graduate from high school and their post-secondary, either education or careers, you know, whatever they end up going to at that point, which is really important to our girls. We have a great really strong high school program, so we're prepping them to apply for schools, for scholarships, that type of thing. But this will actually work with the girls all the way through and most of them are first generation college, so it's gonna provide the support that they need to be able to actually get through college or get into careers successfully. And there'll be a lot of mentoring opportunities, internships, that kind of thing.
Speaker 1 00:04:34 Oh, wonderful.
Speaker 2 00:04:35 Yeah, we are really excited about it. We are just starting the program up right now. We're actually hiring if anybody's interested. <laugh>. Okay. So we have that program and most of our girls are with us from the time they're young. So in our high school program and our college girls, you're gonna meet girls who started with us when they were six years old. So they are very invested in Girls Inc. And the Girls Inc. Community and very trusting of the staff.
Speaker 1 00:05:03 That's amazing that you can have that kind of longevity and to have that kind of influence over someone's life. That's incredible.
Speaker 2 00:05:10 It's great. So in our building every day I mentioned the Girls Inc. National curriculums. Those include things like financial literacy, media literacy. There's a project bold where girls learn to protect themselves and keep themselves safe, friendly for your situation, which helps girls to understand peer pressure and to remain strong themselves. And all of these programs, they're actually a lot of the national curriculums and they all provide self-esteem to the girls and they learn the different skills that they need to actually survive in life and succeed in life. We're very hands on. We actually also have a program called Dream Harbor a couple days a week. So we have our own little mini society within the building. Okay. So the girls have businesses and they have jobs within those businesses. So they may be part of the Artisan Guild or they might be part of catering or the STEM initiative.
Speaker 2 00:06:03 So what they do during that time is one, do things for the community and then create product to sell to each other to keep the economy going. But when the girls enter that they have to apply for jobs. And this is even our five year olds. Oh wow. They have to apply for jobs, they learn how to do time sheets, they learn about taxes, they learn about payroll and banking. I am always amazed at how young our girls learn to use Excel spreadsheets. It's very impressive. So they're learning all of these life skills and day to day skills from the time they're six years old. Wow. So it's pretty amazing and the girls love it. It's really their favorite thing. And we have these great market days where they buy each other's goods or different services they might provide to each other.
Speaker 1 00:06:49 That's so cool. So for the Sarasota office, how many girls do you have in the,
Speaker 2 00:06:53 So we can have up to two 50 in the building at a time, but during the school it averages around 200. During the summer we go up to full capacity. So that's why we started serving girls in the schools because we had more girls who wanted to be a part of Girls Inc than than what we could hold in the building. And then we also were having issues of course with transportation to the southern part of the county. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So we really started to concentrate our in-school programs down there so that those girls could take part in our curriculum as well. On out of school days, we're able to transport the girls who are in our daytime programs at the schools to Girls Inc. So they do get to be part of the center experience as well. Wow. It's great. And it's great for those girls to meet each other.
Speaker 2 00:07:40 Most of our girls, we do tend to serve a lower socioeconomic group. So most of our families fall below the federal poverty level. So generally it's about 60 to 70% of the girls on a full scholarship, which would mean like a family of four, their income level would be about 25,000 is what the federal poverty level is, which is insane, right? Mm-hmm. <affirmative> during C, as our families are still recovering, there was a huge change. Initially we shifted to everybody was a hundred percent because so many of our families were out of work and it's gradually gone down a little bit, but I think right now about 80% of the families are on scholarship with us.
Speaker 1 00:08:20 So there's no fee then if they meet those qualifications
Speaker 2 00:08:23 They meet. Right. If they meet the qualifications, and I say the federal poverty level, we work really closely with our families. We know our families really well, so there is a formula to it. But if a parent shows up and it's like, oh my gosh, our air conditioner went out and we had to pay this ridiculous fee, or we're behind on our rent or my hours got cut at work, we can accommodate. We get to make our own rules with that. So we accommodate exactly what our families need. That's
Speaker 1 00:08:54 Amazing. How is PGT Innovations connected to Girls Inc. And what is that relationship and how long has that been going on?
Speaker 2 00:09:01 Sure. Debbie Lipska, your Chief HR officer and I have known each other for a long time. When I worked at Children First, PGT was very involved at Children First. So when I moved to Girls Inc, I think in 2015, I started engaging PGT at that point. And the really exciting opportunity and something that Debbie and I have been excited about is the leading ladies group that you all have. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. So what we are looking to do is combine those groups some more, provide mentors for our girls. I would love to see as providing some of the internships with you all with our girls. And since that's the national program, I've been working with Debbie to connect her with other affiliates around the country. I'm not sure if I mentioned that, but we are an affiliate of the national organization. So there are about 80 girls Incs in the US and Canada. Okay. So I think you guys have the leading lady groups maybe in four or five places. Mm-hmm <affirmative>, she just made the connection with the person in Miami to start with. But we're excited about making that more of a national partnership.
Speaker 1 00:10:05 Sure. Yeah. Cuz I was fortunate enough to be part of Leading Ladies this year. I was nominated to get in and so they're about I think 75 or 80 of us and we're spread out amongst all the different brands. And so we have folks in Phoenix and eventually we'll have people from Inland, which is in, I believe Fresno, near Fresno, California plus the Miami branch. And then so we just purchase a company in Salt Lake City. So eventually we just keep acquiring and keep growing and so there will be more and more opportunities for those kinds of collaborations. That's amazing.
Speaker 2 00:10:40 It is amazing and the careers that you all are in are careers that the girls really need to be expanding and learning about just manufacturing in general is something that it's not a career choice that's really pushed out for girls very often. Mm-hmm. <affirmative> and PGT is so amazing because you're such a large company that there's so many different types of careers within M P G T. Mm-hmm. That when the girls come here and visit or somebody comes to speak to them, I mean you can work directly in manufacturing and design and marketing and hr, you know, doing a podcast. Right. You know, education. Right. There's so many different aspects of jobs just within your company that it's a great resource for our girls.
Speaker 1 00:11:25 Yeah. And that's one of the things that PPG t's really good about is giving back obviously. Oh obviously it's what we're talking about. So that's amazing. And so through Leading Ladies and then obviously financially there's contributions that
Speaker 2 00:11:36 Happen. Yep. PGT is a sponsor for all of our events and then also a lot of the leading ladies themselves make donations, which is wonderful. Nice. So our family strengthening program, which is funded through Bra Sick Foundation, primarily provides therapeutic services, case management, parenting and education to our families. Those are the four components. So we were the First Girls Inc. To initiate this and begin this, but we started it within our center. We were able to hire a full-time case manager and two part-time therapists. So the case manager monitors the girls when they're referred to her and sees what issues have arisen and then the therapist works more directly with the exact issues and then with the parents. And we really focus a lot on behavioral issues, loss, just the things, the day to day things that our girls are dealing with or that any girls are dealing with.
Speaker 2 00:12:30 There's really, I don't know anyone who hasn't been through some sort of trauma. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So we started this program in 2015 and it has become so strong and as I mentioned became a model for our national organization. So we've trained a lot of other affiliates on how to start their own program. But I will say probably out of everything that we do, and I adore the Girls Inc. National programs and they're amazing and they inspire our girls and provide the self-esteem they need to move forward. But this is really the heart of the organization where we can show the parents how much we care about them and the parents trust us so much, they obviously trust us with their girls to have them there every day, but also trust us with their missed personal issues. Mm-hmm <affirmative>. So we love that program.
Speaker 1 00:13:22 Be sure to tune in for upcoming episodes to help you understand the Fest station industry, what you need to know when buying windows and doors and other related topics. You can find out more about us at pg t i university.com. You can also find us on Facebook and LinkedIn. Do you have any stories that stand out around maybe an individual girl or an individual success story that you have that you could share?
Speaker 2 00:13:45 I think it was about five or six years ago. I was at another event in town called Smart Girls, which our girls are always invited to our middle school girls. So the girls had each individually written stories about themselves before they went to the luncheon and it's a day of activities with some mentoring and things like that. At the end of it, they read a couple of the stories out loud and I had not heard this story before and this is a child that I'd probably known for five years at the time, the way she ended up at Girls Inc. Her mother had been in a very abusive relationship and left the father moved into her friend's garage with this girl who at the time was probably seven or eight and her brother who was at Children first at the time. So she would ride them on their bike to Girl Inc.
Speaker 2 00:14:39 And then ride the brother on his bike all the way over to Children first. But when she start with the story, the way she told it, it was just so amazing and so impactful about how Girls Inc. Was her family and over the years has supported her family, not just with housing, that type of thing, but on Thanksgiving when they didn't have food our staff would drive over and drop turkeys off or helping the mother apply for jobs or find jobs. The same girl has been with us. She became a very good student. She went through our high school program. She had a major loss last year. She was um, getting ready to head to college up in Gainesville and her boyfriend died in an accident. So you know when to hear her tell the story. She was one of our honorees at this year's luncheon.
Speaker 2 00:15:33 You know, what she talks about is really what Girls Inc is. As soon as we found out we were at her house, Aw. We were there with her for like every day. We were alternating for a couple weeks being there with her, went to all the services with her and just provided support for the family. And that encompasses what Girls Inc. Is and what we strive to do for our families. Just for them to feel like we are there for them and we are supporting them. She started college, she took about six months off, has started taking classes again and is working for us part-time. A number of our girls come back and work for us and it's wonderful because they know the girls think national programs better than anyone else because they have been through the programs year after year. So she is doing really well right now.
Speaker 2 00:16:20 We have another girl who started with us when again she was six or seven years old and at the time we found that there had been some history of abuse in the family. The mom shared that with us. So she took part in our family strengthening program for that. And this is just this amazing child who is probably one of the most resilient people I've ever met in my life. It has been up and down with a family member that she lives with who has an alcohol addiction. So almost as if she's the adult in the household. At the same time we've worked with the family with that issue and tried to provide support. We provide a lot of support without judgment just to help the family get through whatever they're going through. But it's been a lot of years of support and just to watch.
Speaker 2 00:17:11 I don't think I've ever met a child as resilient as she is because right now we're in the process of her. I was talking to her right before I left checking in, she just finished her fsa, she's doing her common app. She's got three applications in through colleges. We're talking about the scholarships. We've been talking about her actually going outta state because she really, her desire is to move on from here. Mm-hmm. <affirmative>. But again, she will tell you we're her people, we're her family. I'm the one who calls when she gets scared at night sometimes <laugh>. Aww. So it's getting to have the relationships with those girls.
Speaker 1 00:17:48 There's so many stories and there are a lot of sad stories too. But I really like to tell the ones that are more inspirational about the girls who have made it through and can tell you themselves about what an impact Girls Inc. Made. Right. That's amazing. And there are so many families that are transplanted here without that extended family support that, you know, I had when I was growing up and you probably did too, aunts and uncles and cousins and we don't see a lot of that in this area. There are a lot of, I'm here by myself and now I have a family but I don't have my extended family. So that community is really important. How important to have a safe space for them to come and then to have qualified professional services dealing around trauma and helping them understand financial things. That's amazing.
Speaker 1 00:18:35 It's great. We have amazing staff too and an amazing board of directors. A lot of our staff have been there for a long time so they've gotten to watch the girls grow up too. That's awesome. Well I did not know very much at all about Girls Inc before we started chatting, so I really appreciate you guys coming in and sharing about what you do. And if anyone in our dealer network is interested in finding out more about Girls Inc. I'm sure there's a website they can go to. There is girls inc srq.org. Okay. Our main phone number is (941) 366-6646. And either through the website or that phone number, you could request a tour. And we love to have people in the building because I can sit here all day and talk about Girls Inc. But unless you hear the girls tell the story. Right. That is, and really see what's going on is how you learn what our programs are really about.
Speaker 1 00:19:27 Right. How do they find out if there's a Girls Inc. Near them if they're not in our local area? Okay. Girls Inc. National, it's girls inc.org. Okay. And they have an area you can go on the website and find out where the different affiliates are. Okay. That'd be awesome because I know we have listeners all over so people can tap into a Girls Inc. Near them. Yeah. Awesome. Yeah. Well, uh, really appreciate your time today ladies. Thank you so much for joining. Thank you so much for having us. Yes, thank you. Enjoy. Appreciate it. Thanks.
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